1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to knowledge portals. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for automatically initiating a knowledge portal query from within a document displayed by a document viewer.
2. Identification of Copyright
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
3. Relevant Technology
In recent years, the art of knowledge management has assumed an important role in helping managers to make business decisions. Knowledge management involves the computer-assisted discovery, capture, organization, and sharing of knowledge. A knowledge portal is one of the software tools used in the practice of knowledge management. A variety of knowledge portals are known, one example of which is KnowledgeX(trademark), available from IBM Corporation.
Typically, a knowledge portal organizes knowledge into objects and relationships. Objects correspond to such real-world entities as people, places, things, and documents. Relationships link various objects within the knowledge portal.
Knowledge in the form of objects and relationships is generally stored within a knowledge catalog, also known as a knowledge base. Sources of knowledge may include human experts, company files, web pages, document management systems, databases, data warehouses, datamarts, and the like. Knowledge portals generally operate on dedicated servers. A client program, such as a Web browser or a custom knowledge portal client, may be used to retrieve knowledge from a knowledge portal through constructed questions or queries.
Often, such queries are directed to relationships between the objects stored in the knowledge catalog. For example, a user may pose the query, xe2x80x9cwho are the competitors of ABC company?xe2x80x9d The knowledge portal may respond with a list of objects in the knowledge catalog having a xe2x80x9ccompetitorxe2x80x9d relationship with ABC company.
Additionally, knowledge portals may be used to generate a knowledge map, which is a view of a section of the knowledge catalog. Knowledge maps allow the user to visualize, manipulate, and navigate the objects and relationships described in the knowledge catalog, generally by means of a graphical user interface.
The World Wide Web (hereinafter referred to as the xe2x80x9cWebxe2x80x9d) is a collection of servers within the Internet from which specially formatted documents may be retrieved by means of a Web browser. Typically, Web documents are formatted in the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), which supports hyperlinks between and within documents, as well as a variety of multimedia elements, including graphics, audio and video.
A Web browser is a client application that allows a user to selectively retrieve and display HTML documents, as well as to selectively follow hyperlinks. Currently, two of the most popular Web browsers are Netscape Navigator(trademark) and Microsoft Internet Explorer(trademark).
A hyperlink is an element within an HTML document that directs the Web browser to another place in the same document, or to an entirely different document, when the hyperlink is followed. Hyperlinks may be attached to words, phrases, icons, and other objects displayed within the document. Typically, a user may follow a hyperlink by xe2x80x9cclickingxe2x80x9d on the hyperlink with a pointing device, such as a mouse. Hyperlinks are an essential part of any hypertext system, of which the Web is the most prominent example.
Documents are identified within the Web by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), also commonly referred to as a Web address. A URL identifies the domain name or Internet Protocol (IP) address of the Web server containing the document, as well as the location of the document within the server.
Often, while reading a document displayed by a Web browser or dedicated knowledge portal client, a user may identify a word or phrase corresponding to an object represented in a knowledge portal. For example, the user may read the words, xe2x80x9cABC company,xe2x80x9d and desire to know the competitors of ABC company.
Potentially, the author of the document anticipated the user""s interest and included a hyperlink or other mechanism configured to query a knowledge portal to selectively retrieve and display the competitors of ABC company.
More realistically, however, such a hyperlink or mechanism is not included. As a result, the user is generally required to manually open a knowledge portal client (if not currently open), formulate an appropriate query, and manually initiate the query.
Unfortunately, many users find the above-described process too time-consuming or complicated for casually querying a knowledge portal. Moreover, if the same Web browser or knowledge portal client is used to query the knowledge portal as was used to display the document including the desired word or phrase, the user""s visual and mental context is lost each time the knowledge portal interface replaces the document.
To return to the original document and restore the user""s context, the user must typically click on a xe2x80x9cBackxe2x80x9d button, or the like, introducing yet another step into the process. Moreover, it is frequently impossible to restore the user""s context to the state in which it existed before the query was performed.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for automatically initiating a knowledge portal query from within a document displayed by a document viewer, such as a Web browser or other knowledge portal client. What is also needed is a system and method for preserving the user""s visual and mental context during the query process.
The present invention solves many or all of the foregoing problems by introducing a system and method for automatically initiating an knowledge portal query from within a document displayed by a document viewer, while preserving the user""s visual and mental context throughout the query process.
In one aspect of the invention, a system for automatically initiating a query of a knowledge portal from within a displayed document includes a word designation module configured to receive a user designation of at least two words of the document; an object identification module configured to automatically identify at least two objects within the knowledge portal corresponding to the at least two designated words; a query formulation module configured to automatically formulate a query for identifying at least one relationship within the knowledge portal linking the at least two objects; and a query initiation module configured to automatically direct the knowledge portal to initiate the query.
In another aspect of the invention, a computer-implemented method for automatically initiating a query of a knowledge portal from within a displayed document includes the steps of receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document; automatically identifying at least two objects within the knowledge portal corresponding to the at least two designated words; automatically formulating a query for identifying at least one relationship within the knowledge portal linking the at least two objects; and automatically directing the knowledge portal to initiate the query.
In yet another aspect of the invention, an article of manufacture comprises a program storage medium readable by a processor and embodying one or more instructions executable by the processor to perform the above-described method for automatically initiating a knowledge portal query from within a document displayed by a document viewer.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.